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The contract for "the demolition and the recovery of the remains" of Skikda's petrochemical complex's three gas liquefaction plants will be signed on Wednesday between Sonatrach and French company Delair Navarra, the national oil company announced Tuesday in a release. The three plants were blown out by an explosion on 19 January 2004 that left 26 people dead and 74 wounded, APS reported.

The Skikda plant was used to liquefy natural gas, which is then exported to Europe.

As a result of the blast, LNG production at the Skikda plant declined 76% during 2004. Sonatrach completed repairs on the last damaged LNG train in November 2004, and the company decided to replace the three destroyed trains with a single, larger one, upon which construction should finish by mid-2007.